Instagram introduced video posts in 2013, adding video sharing to what had previously been a primarily photo-focused service. The launch was announced on June 20, with videos initially limited to 15 seconds and supported by 13 filters.
The timing mattered because short-form video was becoming a major social-media battleground. Instagram’s move was widely viewed as a response to Vine, whose looping six-second clips had attracted considerable attention. Instagram combined recording, trimming, filters, and cover-frame selection inside its existing mobile app.
The original 15-second limit did not last. Instagram expanded video posts to as long as one minute in 2016, added widescreen-video support in 2015, and later introduced multi-item posts that could include video. These updates are distinct from Stories, which arrived in 2016, and Reels, which launched in 2020 as a short-form video format.
Thus, 2013 refers to Instagram’s first ordinary video-sharing capability—not every later video product or the platform’s eventual shift toward video.